Three Easton Area students together in car before crash

Elayna Bartolacci of Forks Township, shown in a photo in the Easton Area High School Yearbook.

Elayna Bartolacci of Forks Township, shown in a photo in the Easton Area High School Yearbook.

Tyra BradenOf The Morning Call

About an hour before he and an Easton Area High School classmate died in a car crash last month, Michael R. Cummings picked up Kyle M. Kehler at the Forks Township home where Kehler had gone to sober up, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said Monday.

Morganelli said investigators are still trying to piece together where Cummings and Kehler, both 18, and Amanda L. Schultz, 16, went after leaving the home of Elayna Bartolacci, 17, early on March 5. He said Bartolacci doesn't know who was driving when the three left.

At 6:26 a.m., police have said, Kehler, whose blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, was behind the wheel and slammed his car into a tree at Southwood Drive near Wedgewood Drive in Palmer Township. He was the only survivor.

Morganelli said Bartolacci of 760 Newlins Road was interviewed Friday and revealed that someone she could not identify dropped Kehler off at her home. Authorities earlier identified Ryan Klipphahn, another Easton student, as the person who drove Kehler to Bartolacci's home.

Morganelli said Bartolacci reported Cummings was driving Kehler's car when he and Schultz picked Kehler up later that morning.

The announcement marks the first time authorities have put Kehler, Cummings and Schultz together in Kehler's car at some point before the crash. Morganelli said the accident happened 30 to 60 minutes after the three left Bartolacci's home.

Kehler of 2764 Victoria Lane, Palmer, remains in the county prison under $100,000 bail, charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle while driving drunk and related offenses. A preliminary hearing is set for May 18 before District Judge Ralph Litzenberger.

Morganelli, who has said groups of teenagers had been drinking at several locations March 4 into March 5, said that by the end of this week he hopes to release a timeline of events leading to the crash.

Kehler had only a learner's permit and wasn't allowed to be driving without an older person in the car. His blood-alcohol level was well above the 0.02 percent at which a person younger than 21 is considered impaired.

Cummings, police said, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.04 percent, and Schultz's was 0.12 percent.

Bartolacci wrote a letter, which was delivered March 10, to Cummings' mother saying Kehler showed up at her home at 4:30 a.m. and left about an hour later, before her parents awoke. Morganelli and lawyer Leonard Zito of Bangor, who represents the Bartolacci family, disagreed about how and when Elayna Bartolacci would be interviewed.

Morganelli on Monday said he now believes the Bartolaccis ''were just proceeding cautiously with their daughter.'' He said there was no effort ''to hide anything. We don't have any issues with'' the Bartolaccis, he said.

Elayna Bartolacci, Morganelli said, ''did believe [Kehler] was under the influence of alcohol'' when he was dropped off ''and was trying to sober up.'' He characterized her information as ''credible'' and said she would testify in court against Kehler.

Diane C. Curran, 62, of 135 Applewood Drive, Palmer, is charged with reckless endangerment and furnishing alcohol to minors. Police said she bought seven cases of beer for teen Jason Dietterick, who hosted a party March 4 at his 212 Applewood Drive home. Police said Kehler told them he drank three beers at Dietterick's home.